


Like a Tidal Wave, I'll Make a Mess

by coruscantspark



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Divine Word, Everyone dies and Jester has to deal, Gen, Jester loses it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27430576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coruscantspark/pseuds/coruscantspark
Summary: Jester watches all of her friends fall in battle and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She loses it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Like a Tidal Wave, I'll Make a Mess

**Author's Note:**

> This is sad. I took one look at the description for Divine Word and immediately knew it would fill my "Jester finally loses it" prompt quite well.
> 
> Short, not sweet.

Jester pulls herself up the edge of the cliff and rolls to her back, catching her breath, willing the world to stop spinning. She’d been tossed off the side of the cliff in the concussive force of a spell that had hit her. It had taken her quite a while to get back to the battlefield, scrambling over rocks and slipping down precarious handholds to reach the cliffside they’d been ambushed at. Rolling to her side, she clutches at her ribs as she stumbles to her feet to survey the battlefield. Steadying herself on the tree she’d used the root of to climb the last distance she looks around. 

The only member of the Mighty Nein still fighting is Yasha. She is flying, swinging Magician’s Judge in a vicious arc at the beautiful woman matching her slash for slash as they meet in a deadly winged battle above the crumpled body of Beau, clothing stained reddish purple from the blood pouring from multiple slashes and burns. Two insectoid-like bodies lay in pieces near Beau’s body. Another hops around underneath them excitedly, swinging at dangling feet and laughing a cackle of broken glass.

Jester shakes her head, feeling her throat tighten with tears, eyes sliding to the pile of boulders she’d last seen Caleb dodging behind. Instead she sees Fjord collapsed against the rocks, eyes shut, Star Razor nowhere to be seen. 

A few feet from him, the prone body of Caduceus lays face down, arm outstretched towards Fjord - shield knocked a few feet back, staff cracked at an angle under him. Jester begins to shake, raising a hand to her mouth and stomach, feeling the bile rising as she stumbles forward. 

A winged man lies crumpled in between the bodies of her two friends, hauntingly beautiful despite the blood and burns marring his skin and wings, the grass around him burnt to a crisp. The burn line leads into deeper grass where a flash of red in the grass draws her attention as she steps past the trunk of the tree. A soot covered Caleb lays limp and unmoving in the grass, a web of burned grass leading lines away from his body. As her eyes follow one of the trails, she sees a yellow dress hidden in the grass at the bottom of a tree-stained with blood, another badly-burned insect-like creature limping as it turns around. 

Jester hears a moan break through the sound of the battle, and realizes it’s coming from her. She looks up at the mountain towering above her and in a vertigo inducing moment it seems to start to fall towards her, and she sinks to her knees. 

The world slows as her palms hit the dirt, elbow collapsing and sinking her left side farther to the ground. Tears finally break past her eyelids and streak down the dirt on her face. Gritting her teeth, she takes a deep breath and stills. Closing her eyes she reaches deep inside herself. 

Deep breath in.

She imagines herself in her mind’s eye. Happy and cheerful and full of wonder. She is wide eyed and scared, shaking in the corner of her happy place as the walls around her crack and crumble.

Long breath out.

A door tucked away in a dark corner of her mind that is supposed to stay locked slowly opens. A gaunt, hardened version of herself steps out and glances around. She sees the shaking version of cheerfulness hiding and reaches out her hand. Pulling all the chains off of the door, the new Jester tucks her happy self inside and puts her finger to her lips as she carefully closes the door and turns grinning wickedly.

Jester takes a deep breath in and opens her eyes. Straightens her arm. Clenches her hands into fists. Her eyes flash green and she swears she hears a “Get ‘em” whispered in her ear as her spirit guardians erupt around her. She slowly stands up as the insectoid devil limps towards her, immediately getting swarmed by her guardians as she pulls her shield in front to ward off his advance. 

The trident scrapes down the shield she’d pulled up just in time, but her bruised ribs catch a claw. She grunts and swings her ax towards his neck, sinking it in with a satisfying  _ thunk _ and dances around to his other side with an outstretched hand. A serrated-edged lollipop appears above the flying woman’s head and with a clenched fist from Jester, comes down hard at the neck. 

The woman howls in pain and her eyes flash angrily, the battle not nearly as over as she’d thought. Her longsword becomes a blur as Yasha takes hit after hit, returning them blow for blow, wings beating furiously in time with each other, each trying to gain dominance. The creature below them disappears from where they were standing and reappears next to Jester bringing the trident down in an arc, laughing all the while. 

Jester reaches out and grabs the first devil by the throat and necrotic energy pulses through him, burning sickly greenish black lines down his torso. His screams as his eyes roll back and he goes limp, trident falling from his claws. Jester slowly grins and turns to lock eyes with the other monster who falters as he watches her lift his ally, still clasped by throat, a little higher before tossing it aside like garbage and turning around to face them fully, spinning the ax and commanding another lollipop assault on the winged woman.

The woman lets out a frustrated growl and a vicious onslaught with her dripping longsword. Yasha lets out a pained cry and her wings disappear and she plummets to the ground, landing hard and unmoving. The winged warrior lets out a shout of victory and raises her sword above her head and begins chanting. Jester takes a hit from behind, barely noticing the pain as she stares at the crumpled form of her friend. 

The monster’s laughter and the woman’s chanting fade as the blood roars in her ears.

The lollipop disappears.

She stares unblinking at Yasha and Beau. 

Her guardians fade.

She takes a step forward, eyes turning to Veth. 

Her ax falls from her limp fingertips.

The tears well up as she slowly turns to look for Caleb.

Her knees weaken and she stumbles when her eyes land on Fjord and Caduceus.

The winged woman lands lightly in front of her, and finishes her chanting. 

More insect-like devils start popping into existence behind her, chittering and cackling. Jester drops to her knees in horror. The woman snaps her wings shut laughing before raising her sword high, demanding silence. She sheathes her sword and grabs Jester’s face with both hands, roughly pulling her up forcing eye contact.

“I’m less than impressed,” her voice is as beautiful as she, haunting and terrifying. “I was told this group would prove more… formidable.”

Jester can feel her rage boiling inside her. She begins to shake.

The woman releases a hand and pulls her sword out, raising it up. The line of the blade cuts through the sun, blocking some of the light.

“See how she trembles?” The woman laughs and releases the other hand, intending to bring it to her blade. 

Jester strikes, grabbing the arm with one hand and her throat in the other as the fury and grief erupt out of her. 

She screams. 

She screams.

She screams the names of those she’s lost. She screams and the ground shakes beneath her. She screams and the army before her drops to their knees before disappearing as suddenly as they came. She screams and the winged woman realizes what is happening just as she drops dead immediately, the shock etched on her face before she too disappears.

The echos ring in her ears as Jester drops to the ground, numb. Her head shoots up and she scrambles over to Yasha, pulling a diamond out and pleading that she’s not too late. Her hands still shake and her voice is hoarse as she gently places the diamond on Yasha’s chest and calls the Traveler to help bring her friend back.

“Please, please Traveler let me not be too late!” She collapses over Yasha’s torso. “Please…”

A hand comes to rest on her back. “Just in time, my dear,” a familiar voice soothes. 

Jester sits up and leans against Artagan who wipes a tear from her cheek before settling in beside her. 

“Let's see what we can do here, shall we?” 

Green begins to swirl around Yasha’s body. The diamond shakes but doesn’t break. 

“Hmmm, that is different, isn’t it?”

Jester’s eyes widen in alarm. “What? What is it? Am I too late?”

“Not at all, my dear,” Artagan shakes his head. “It seems that the gods prefer this one alive and don’t require the diamond to raise her- ah! There she is!”

Yasha’s eyes flash open and she sits up sharply, head whipping around. “What happened?” 

Jester throws herself at Yasha and nearly tackles her back down in a hug, shaking. Seeing no immediate danger, Yasha relaxes into the hug and pulls her closer for a moment. As Jester’s shaking slows, Yasha suddenly feels the warmth of healing seeping into her and gently pulls Jester back and uses her sleeve to catch a few tears. Concern fills her at the blankness on her normally expressive friend. 

“Jester, what happened?”

A chill thrills in Yasha’s heart when Jester’s eyes swing to hers and she replies in an even voice.

“I destroyed them.”

**Author's Note:**

> Part Two? Maybe?
> 
> For the curious, they were fighting two Erinyes and a few Mezzoloths with some *modified* skill sets. 
> 
> Jester uses Divine Word to level the battlefield:
> 
> DIVINE WORD  
> You utter a divine word, imbued with the power that shaped the world at the dawn of Creation. Choose any number of creatures you can see within range. Each creature that can hear you must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, a creature suffers an Effect based on its current Hit Points.
> 
> • 50 Hit Points or fewer - Deafened for 1 minute
> 
> • 40 Hit Points or fewer - Deafened and Blinded for 10 minutes
> 
> • 30 Hit Points or fewer - Blinded, Deafened, and Stunned for 1 hour
> 
> • 20 Hit Points or fewer - killed instantly
> 
> Regardless of its current Hit Points, a Celestial, an elemental, a fey, or a fiend that fails its save is forced back to its plane of Origin (if it isn't there already) and can't return to your current plane for 24 hours by any means short of a wish spell.


End file.
